GameStop and Autism Speaks Teaming Up for Month-Long Fundraising Initiative

It's always good to see a retailer give back to the community in some way, especially if it helps with the right community.

That's exactly what GameStop is doing, as the company has announced that it will once again partner with Autism Speaks to "help increase awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder" with a new fundraising campaign.

"Throughout May, the video game retailer is focusing its annual in-store autism awareness campaign on raising funds for the newly launched NXT Gen Coders Program powered by GameStop and administered by Autism Speaks, aimed at increasing coding and programming skills for people with autism," the company noted in its press release.

"From May 1 through May 31, GameStop will host its third annual in-store autism awareness campaign with 100 percent of donations going to Autism Speaks and helping fund the NXT Gen Coders Program. This program, powered by GameStop and administered by Autism Speaks, will focus on opportunities for coding and programing skill development for people with autism, so that they may be better equipped to take advantage of the one million jobs that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates will be open in the coding industry by 2020."

Here are the ways that guests can contribute to support people with autism:

• For the first-time, guests will have the option to donate up to 100 percent of their trade-in value to charity when they bring to GameStop their unused video game hardware, software, accessories, or consumer electronics.
• Donate $1 or more in-store or on GameStop.com and it will provide triple PowerUp Rewards points on the donation amount.
• Donate PowerUp Rewards points to Autism Speaks in the PowerUp Rewards Center.

"We are proud to continue our commitment to raising awareness and providing support to the individuals and families impacted by autism," says Jason Cochran, senior vice president of Store Operations for GameStop. "Through our ongoing partnership with Autism Speaks and the newly launched NXT Gen Coders Program, we are taking extra steps to provide individuals with autism the job and life skills they need to help them enjoy a more fulfilling life."

The company has raised $2.4 million for Autism Speaks with previous campaigns, and this latest one should have no trouble adding to the total.